Retail work is just a no-win situation, between the SS shoppers and the bizarre corporate policies that make no sense.

Yeah, dealing with customers was the worst jobs I ever did. I always say I'd rather mop floors or dig ditches than deal with customers ever again.

POD

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“For too long, we've assumed that there is a single template for human nature, which is why we diagnose most deviations as disorders. But the reality is that there are many different kinds of minds. And that's a very good thing.” - Jonah Lehrer

Retail work is just a no-win situation, between the SS shoppers and the bizarre corporate policies that make no sense.

Yeah, dealing with customers was the worst jobs I ever did. I always say I'd rather mop floors or dig ditches than deal with customers ever again.

Me, too. My job can be a pain, but I work by myself and there are times I wouldn't trade that for anything. (What I would trade it for is the chance to work in an astronomical observatory. But that's about it.)

Today at Macy's, I was digging through a rack of clearance jeans when I noticed something weird. The jeans I was looking at were supposed to be Calvin Klein, size 6. But the little CK tag inside the waistband was peeling away. Usually they're stitched in. So I looked at the button on the jeans. Not Calvin Klein. The size tag was for a Junior size, and the jeans showed signs of wear.

I took them up to the manager and told her she needed to give them to Loss Prevention. Someone had cut the tag from a pair of CK jeans and glued it into the waistband of the non-CK brand jeans and then returned them to Macy's, probably using the receipt for the real pair of CK jeans they'd bought earlier.

Sadly, that happened a LOT. I worked there over the holiday season and the Loss Prevention office was full of stuff like that..clothes that had been doctored and swapped out with the real thing and returned, usually for cash. There are a lot of thieving SS people who do crap like that.

Shouldn't th staff make sure the item returned is really the item on the receipt?

Yes, but sadly, many just don't care. which is why the scammers can get away with it. I had a customer recently bring back a sweater that was waaay old, should not have even been out on the floor, and was final sale, which we don't do anymore. It had a hole in it, and smelled of perfume, like it had been worn. I felt badly for her as she really like it, but they shouldn't have even sold it to her. Fortunately, I can override final sale on the register, so I did. And then marked it MOS.

Shouldn't th staff make sure the item returned is really the item on the receipt?

Sometimes the staff taking the returns aren't familiar enough with the merchandise to know that something is wrong. If the person has a receipt and it matches the tag stuck to thing being returned they do the return because it seems correct.

I used to work at Macy's in the department that sold the expensive jeans and people who were pulling a scam would take the return to any other department just because we would have known that the item wasn't right but the people in other areas didn't work with them enough to realize something wasn't right. I know my store wanted to start a policy that all items had to be returned at the department where the brands are located but it never took off because it made customers unhappy.

Shouldn't th staff make sure the item returned is really the item on the receipt?

Some do, but a lot don't bother really looking at the merchandise, or just don't care. the person had taken the time to attach even the original price and size tags from the CK jeans, do the cashier was probably just looking at those.

I witnessed a pack of SS kids while at Gettysburg this past week. We were walking up to the Pennsylvania Memorial, and there were about five kids sitting on one part of it. As we walked up, one guy hawked and spit towards one of the girls, who screamed. That seemed to inspire all five of them to start shrieking, pushing at each other, and getting into everyone else's way who was at the memorial. I was watching them and one kid caught my eye and figured out that I wasn't happy with them. They all calmed down a bit (although the girl who initially screamed seemed to be having fun making faces at me), until the Union reenactors who were demonstrating how to load and fire muskets set off the first round. Every round that was fired was greeted with piercing, terrifying shrieks from all five of them, and laughter in between. They seemed to think it was really fun to see who would come over to see if they were okay every time a shriek was heard.

Shouldn't th staff make sure the item returned is really the item on the receipt?

Yes, but sadly, many just don't care. which is why the scammers can get away with it. I had a customer recently bring back a sweater that was waaay old, should not have even been out on the floor, and was final sale, which we don't do anymore. It had a hole in it, and smelled of perfume, like it had been worn. I felt badly for her as she really like it, but they shouldn't have even sold it to her. Fortunately, I can override final sale on the register, so I did. And then marked it MOS.

When I worked retail I spend many years on the refund counter. I had scammers who would walk in, see me there and leave. They knew nothing would get past me Annoyingly other staff did which is why they kept doing it but at least it didn't happen on my watch.

Once we had a customer who refused to take no for an answer so demanded to see my manager. So I got her. He refused to believe her when she told him the same thing and demanded her manager. The store manager came donw and he didn't believer her either. He wanted a male manager. We didn't have any working that day so we just rounded up a male staff worker who, because he'd be trained by me, said exactly what the rest of us had said. Finally the customer either believed him or gave in since he then left.

Once we had a customer who refused to take no for an answer so demanded to see my manager. So I got her. He refused to believe her when she told him the same thing and demanded her manager. The store manager came donw and he didn't believer her either. He wanted a male manager. We didn't have any working that day so we just rounded up a male staff worker who, because he'd be trained by me, said exactly what the rest of us had said. Finally the customer either believed him or gave in since he then left.

I ran into that when I was doing tech support for Office. I told the guy that he could not get a free replacement for his Office'95 just because Office 2000 came out. He refused to believe me - or my female supervisor, so a male team leader came on and told him the same thing...his response was "Well, you're a guy so I'll believe you, but you never know if a girl can be made to do what I want her to." Male team leader was flabbergasted.

I witnessed a pack of SS kids while at Gettysburg this past week. We were walking up to the Pennsylvania Memorial, and there were about five kids sitting on one part of it. As we walked up, one guy hawked and spit towards one of the girls, who screamed. That seemed to inspire all five of them to start shrieking, pushing at each other, and getting into everyone else's way who was at the memorial. I was watching them and one kid caught my eye and figured out that I wasn't happy with them. They all calmed down a bit (although the girl who initially screamed seemed to be having fun making faces at me), until the Union reenactors who were demonstrating how to load and fire muskets set off the first round. Every round that was fired was greeted with piercing, terrifying shrieks from all five of them, and laughter in between. They seemed to think it was really fun to see who would come over to see if they were okay every time a shriek was heard.

And this is why I visit Gettysburg during the off season. The last time I was there during a reenactment was on Memorial Day the year Sarah Palin was scheduled to show up in her bus. My walking stick almost became an agent of evil and my camera a weapon of mass desctruction

I witnessed a pack of SS kids while at Gettysburg this past week. We were walking up to the Pennsylvania Memorial, and there were about five kids sitting on one part of it. As we walked up, one guy hawked and spit towards one of the girls, who screamed. That seemed to inspire all five of them to start shrieking, pushing at each other, and getting into everyone else's way who was at the memorial. I was watching them and one kid caught my eye and figured out that I wasn't happy with them. They all calmed down a bit (although the girl who initially screamed seemed to be having fun making faces at me), until the Union reenactors who were demonstrating how to load and fire muskets set off the first round. Every round that was fired was greeted with piercing, terrifying shrieks from all five of them, and laughter in between. They seemed to think it was really fun to see who would come over to see if they were okay every time a shriek was heard.

And this is why I visit Gettysburg during the off season. The last time I was there during a reenactment was on Memorial Day the year Sarah Palin was scheduled to show up in her bus. My walking stick almost became an agent of evil and my camera a weapon of mass desctruction

This is good to know. DH would like to take a day and visit both Antietam and Gettysburg the next time my bff comes out and I know we'd both rather not have to deal with that kind of thing.

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Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars. You have a right to be here. Be cheerful, strive to be happy. -Desiderata

I witnessed a pack of SS kids while at Gettysburg this past week. We were walking up to the Pennsylvania Memorial, and there were about five kids sitting on one part of it. As we walked up, one guy hawked and spit towards one of the girls, who screamed. That seemed to inspire all five of them to start shrieking, pushing at each other, and getting into everyone else's way who was at the memorial. I was watching them and one kid caught my eye and figured out that I wasn't happy with them. They all calmed down a bit (although the girl who initially screamed seemed to be having fun making faces at me), until the Union reenactors who were demonstrating how to load and fire muskets set off the first round. Every round that was fired was greeted with piercing, terrifying shrieks from all five of them, and laughter in between. They seemed to think it was really fun to see who would come over to see if they were okay every time a shriek was heard.

And this is why I visit Gettysburg during the off season. The last time I was there during a reenactment was on Memorial Day the year Sarah Palin was scheduled to show up in her bus. My walking stick almost became an agent of evil and my camera a weapon of mass desctruction

This is good to know. DH would like to take a day and visit both Antietam and Gettysburg the next time my bff comes out and I know we'd both rather not have to deal with that kind of thing.

Antietam is pretty good. It never gets really too too busy. I do a 9 mile lariat which knits together most of the trails in the park. With Gettysburg, I highly recommend going during the week rather than the weekend. I usually walk the battlefield rather than drive from place to place as the parking areas are pretty small on the battlefield. I do a 9 mile loop, starting on the Northern side and ending with following Pickett's charge across the field to the High Water Mark.

I highly recommend a battlefield guide if you can swing it, especially at Gettysburg. PM me if you would like a link to my trail maps